Finland Makes Broadband Access a Legal Right

The country's Ministry of Transport and Communications has ordered telecom providers to be ready to provide "every residence and business office with access to a reasonably priced and high-quality connection," the AP reports.

Services must provide a minimum speed of 1 megabit per second, but the LA Times reports that the government plans to make access to super-fast 100-Mbps broadband access a legal right for Finland residents by the end of 2015.

The announcement accelerates Finland's broadband plan, which originally had a start date of December 2010. The ministry's plan still needs parliamentary approval.

France has made Internet access a human right, but Finland is apparently the first country to make it a legal right. In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission is currently charged with delivering a nationwide broadband plan to Congress by February, 2010.

At the end of 2008, Finland had a population of approximately 5.3 million people, compared with 307 million in the U.S., and 64 million in France.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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